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Ancient City of Barikot

Bīr-koṭ-ghwaṇḍai

Pakistan · Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Swat

Ancient cityExcavation ongoing
Approximate period1,700 BCE — 1,600 CEFrom the Bronze Age to the post-medieval period See on the map ↓

In brief

Barikot, associated with ancient Bazira, preserves a long sequence of settlement in the Swat Valley. Excavations have revealed city walls, streets and early Buddhist sacred buildings.

What was found?

  • 1Apsidal Buddhist temple

    The cylindrical structure on an apsidal platform houses a small stupa. The temple is an urban example of early Buddhist religious architecture.

  • 2Step inscribed in Kharoshthi

    The dedicatory inscription on the stair riser has been dated to the 1st century AD on the basis of its letter forms. One half of the piece was reused as a paving stone in a later phase.

  • 3Coins

    Coins were found in the lower layers of the temple. Together with stratigraphic relationships, they help investigate the structure’s chronology.

  • 4Pottery inscribed in Kharoshthi

    Numerous pottery fragments bearing Kharoshthi writing were recovered during excavations. They show that writing was used on vessels as well as on stone dedicatory inscriptions.

  • 5Monumental base of the Vişnu temple

    A plastered temple base adorned with decorated pilasters and fragments of marble sculpture were found on the acropolis. They document the city’s later Hindu religious architecture.

What does it point to?

The Buddhist monuments and the later Vişnu temple indicate Barikot’s changing religious life in different periods. Inscriptions and reused architectural elements show that sacred structures were repaired and transformed over time.

What did it teach us?

  1. They revealed the relationship between Buddhist religious structures and public spaces in the city center.
  2. They documented the reuse of a dedicatory inscription as paving material in a later construction phase.
  3. They showed that both Buddhist and Hindu monuments existed within the long settlement sequence.

Latest news / selected archive

In 2022, the discovery of a Buddhist temple dating back at least to the late 2nd century BC was announced.

Record

Culture
Gandhara; Indo-Greek, Kushan and later regional cultures
First modern dig
1984
Team / historical
ISMEO ve Ca' Foscari Üniversitesi İtalyan Arkeoloji Misyonu; Luca Maria Olivieri
Coordinates
34.6808°, 72.2128°

Sources

  1. unive.it
  2. archaeology.org
  3. unive.it
  4. sciencedirect.com

Nearby excavations


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12.000

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